TrekEast Blog 8 Ocala National Forest

March 4, Ocala National Forest

Ocala National Forest is very important ecologically and is a very important part of the Ocala to Osceola Greenway, a critical floridawildlifecorridor.org Florida Wildlife Corridor.  “I found the words and photos of my comrade Sleazeweazel (See: Weazelwise), a most hilarious and brilliant naturalist, to be a great reflection of our unforgettable ramble!”

"Had an excellent day Wednesday. Headed to Juniper springs in the Ocala National Forest to meet Buf and an enterprising conservationist named John Davis who is doing TrekEast a 5000 mile hike/bike/paddle to benefit the Wildlands Network. He used to be editor of the Wild Earth Journal, the only respectable publication ever to print the Weazel's rants.

We ditched my canoe and Buford's yak at the springhead then threw our bikes in the back of my pickemup and drove to the landing on Rt 19 not too far from where Juniper run hits the St. Johns. John set up his camp in a hidden location then we biked south on 19 to a tiny sugar sand road heading east and ditched our bikes.

As per Peter's instructions we crossed Mormon branch and headed upstream on the east bank. It was beautiful swamp forest, mostly Atlantic white cedar with a dense understory of anise. Here is the requested moccasin.

After about half a mile things got seriously liquid so we headed for the uplands then bashed back through the scrub to our bikes then on to Juniper run about eight miles away.

Shortly after leaving the springhead there are nice sand boils, the ultimate in quicksand whichis sand suspended by water pressure.

There were a fair number of alligators and numerous red bellied turtles, all of which were too cold to move so we could closely approach them. The total distance hiked biked and paddled was 17.5 miles.

Thursday evening John arrived at Weazelworld with his entourage. We were also joined by a jolly crew of local conservationists bearing beer and all proceeded to chow down on a grill full of BBQed chicken.

Signed,

Sleaze Weazel, Bruce"